


Sun's Out, Guns Out

by thecurlyginger



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-11
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2018-02-12 18:00:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2119455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecurlyginger/pseuds/thecurlyginger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Parks Department holds a car wash, Tom has a few wardrobe ideas. Leslie's not complaining. Set during season 3, sometime after "Camping Trip" and before "Li'l Sebastian."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sun's Out, Guns Out

**Author's Note:**

> One of my friends joked that since it was getting warm, we should all wear tank-tops. He exclaimed "Sun's out, guns out," and that just sounded like something Tom would say. Enjoy!

“Listen up,” Donna starts sharply while entering, drawing attention from everyone in the Parks and Recreation Department, “the parks' parking lots are a hot mess. They need to be repaved - my Benz is getting dusty, and it's ruining my _new_ tires.” The room is silent, no one knowing how to respond to a Donna Meagle with prerogative.

With a loud “Aha!” Leslie rushes out of her office, holding a yellow ideas binder. “'Idea number 386: Host a car wash.' If we hold it at the park and put the money into improving the parking lots, people can see first-hand the change they'll be contributing to! Nice work, Donna.” She begins to draft signs, murmuring to herself with glee.

“Hm, didn't think that'd work,” Donna says and goes to her desk.

Within hours, the event is presented to Chris. “Leslie Knope! I knew you were brilliant, but you are literally an unstoppable machine of good ideas.” Glancing over, she can see Ben beside her, a small smile of approval on his face. “I trust you and your department will be the ones washing the cars. Ben and I will be more than happy to lend a hand and show our support,” Chris adds.

“Great! I'll have volunteer shirts out in a day or two, and we'll be good to go on Saturday.” Leslie leaves out the part that she would have the shirts ready to print were it not for some disagreements on the style among her department. “Ben, do you mind coming to help me with something?”

Looking to Chris for approval and seeing him already preoccupied with cutting up his multivitamin, Ben follows her. He doesn't expect to be bombarded upon stepping through the Parks doors.

“Ben! You can help settle this,” Tom calls, ushering Ben in. “Imagine this: you bring you car by for a wash. Do you want boring old ladies and guys with some lame teeshirts and limp sponges to clean your ride, or do you want hot babes in bikinis and shirtless dudes with rock-hard abs to do it?”

“Uh...”

Sighing, Leslie races in to save the day. “Your 'babes' and 'dudes' will be the _wonderful_ government employees of this department. I told you, we're just getting shirts, not super models. Nothing special, no revealing design--”

“Fine. Do tank-tops and muscle tees, then,” Tom offers. “Ladies in shorts preferred, _but_ ” he adds at the sight of Leslie's stern look, “not mandatory.”

Ben looks between Leslie and Tom to see if it's safe to talk. When they only glare at each other, he butts in. “Why muscle tees?”

“Simple. Sun's out, guns out,” Tom says likes it's obvious. Ben looks baffled. “Look, you gotta give something for the ladies and the gay guys. It's government work, Ben; it's all about giving back.”

Needing the designs out as soon as possible and sensing Ben's discomfort when Tom mentions other ways they can all give back, Leslie agrees to the tank-tops and muscle tees, ready to argue to Chris that the forecast predicts high temperatures on Saturday in case there are objections to their bare arms. Chris heartily agrees, though, listing the benefits of vitamin D and sunshine. When the shirts are printed and delivered Friday, Leslie stresses to everyone to keep their attire appropriate. “And Tom? No model 'volunteers,' okay?”

“Fine,” he sighs, grabbing his shirt.

Chris and Ben accept their shirts with less drama, the former on his way out for a run and the latter still packing his bag. “Sorry that you got dragged into helping on the weekend,” she tells Ben.

“Not like I had much planned anyway,” he responds lightly. “Besides, now I can show off my guns. Beware - they're so pale they might blind someone.”

Laughing, Leslie says “I'd like to see that.” As she leaves, she hopes it didn't sound too much like she wanted to see his bare arms. And when she hesitantly takes out shorts to wear with her tank-top the next morning, Leslie just attributes that to the heat and not to attract a certain assistant city manager.

The car wash, like all of her events, is well organized in advance down to every volunteer's position. With April and Andy near the corner waving signs, Andy doing so while dancing and running around, Leslie, Ben, Ron, and Jerry manage the exterior washing and Tom and Donna work on the inside vacuuming and air freshening. Chris occupies the customers with conversations about health, proving to be helpful in distracting them when Jerry accidentally sprays the hose while car windows are still open.

Ron's method is precise scrubbing, his sponge cleaning wheel-wells and leaving each car shining. Leslie tries to follow his method, more concerned with cleaning besides Ben nearly the entire day. She's fortunate to have gotten turquoise shirts, as Jerry has managed to spray the entire department damp. While a wet teeshirt contest might be Tom's idea of a fun Saturday, she can just imagine the headlines the _Pawnee Sun_ would come up with. Ben's in good spirits, though, making the heat less miserable. There's no appropriate way to thank Tom for his “sun's out, guns out” idea, especially when Ben's guns are lean, sculpted, and very-much admired by Leslie, so she mentally notes to get him a nice gift card to one of his favorite designer stores.

Each customer leaves complimenting everyone's hard work, and Chris praises each team member individually every hour. When business is slow, he grabs a sign and runs up and down the road, attracting another line of cars. Leslie's arms feel like they're about to fall off as dusk approaches, her wet shirt now cooling down so that she's _just_ reached the point of discomfort. They thankfully call it a night to allow time to clean up.

The car wash is a success, so much so that Chris volunteers everyone to hold one next month. Ron happily accepts, finally finding worthwhile government work. Tom only accepts out of obligation and hopes that next month the ladies of Pawnee will be so appreciative of his hard work that they give him their numbers. While everyone else files out, Leslie volunteers to stay behind and finish emptying out buckets. Thankfully, Ben joins her.

“That wasn't so bad,” he says, wringing out a sponge.

Leslie grabs the sponge and tosses it in the bucket in her car. “I feel like I need to be left out to dry.” To emphasize, she waddles over to wrap the hose, her jean shorts extremely uncomfortable. Ben's shirt is clinging to him, so that's one bright side to look at. She hopes she can continue looking at it for a while longer. “Hey, do you wanna... grab some food? JJ's has some good hot chocolate if you're cold. They also have a good chocolate milkshake if you're warm. Also, there's real food there if you're hungry.”

“Sounds nice.” Ben reaches into his car and grabs the tan jacket he wore to the children's concert. Leslie doesn't mention that it made him look like he might start aggressively singing music numbers in the street because he wouldn't understand how attractive that is to her. He hands her the jacket. “Keep this on for warmth. See you there?”

“Yeah,” she says while putting it on, feeling her cheeks flush. It's just dark enough that he probably won't notice, though. “See you there.”

Once they're sitting across each other, hot chocolate in Leslie's hands and his jacket cocooning her in warmth and his scent, she forgets all about her damp clothing and wonders if she can make “sun's out, guns out” a workplace policy.

When the next month's car wash approaches, Leslie's conflicted. On one hand, it's doing Pawnee a great service and allows her to spend more time with Ben. On the other hand, that means she and he have to keep up the facade of friendship, even though they're dating. It's bad enough to have to hide their relationship; it's even worse that their Saturday is about to include more hiding when it would have been used for gratuitous amounts of sex. It's such a stressful life she leads.

The Friday before is spent preparing, Leslie begrudgingly doing a spot on Crazy Ira and the Douche to promote it and then reminding everyone to wear their volunteer shirts. She and Ben go out to dinner, indulging then on dessert and some intense making out. As much as she wants him to stay over (they certainly can't participate in any sexual activity with April and Andy at his place), Leslie pushes Ben out the door.

“No funny business tomorrow, okay?” It's hard to take even herself seriously as she nearly salivates at the sight of Ben's chest where he didn't button up his shirt all the way. Leslie watches him get in his car and drive away, contemplating the last month and her future with Ben Wyatt.

She's up early the next morning, donning shorts and her tank-top to battle the heat. Lathering on sunscreen and grabbing her most colorful, ostentatious pair of sunglasses, she's ready. It's already warm when she steps outside, and Leslie's hoping that Andy will be as careless with the hose as Jerry was just to combat the inevitable sunshine. She drives up to Ramsett Park to find Chris there, jogging in place while talking to Ron. “Good morning,” Leslie calls from her car as she parks. She's sure it will be.

To mix things around, Chris and Tom will be on sign duty while Donna, Leslie, and Andy wash the exteriors and April, Jerry, and Ron vacuum the interiors. Ben will be in charge of the money for the day, and to keep everyone cool and refreshed, they'll rotate positions. There are few objections, notably from Tom who protests Chris' mobile marketing method and from Donna who doesn't want to ruin her nails washing people's gross, crappy cars.

“No complaints! You'll take the job you're given and then we'll leave. End of discussion,” Ron says, silencing everyone.

Their dour moods aren't the picture of customer service, though. Looking around for inspiration, Leslie finally takes the hose a sprays it lightly above her, letting the water mist around her. Everyone turns to see what she's doing. “Listen up, guys. I know it's hot, I know this day is going to be long and you'd rather be doing something more fun. _But_ if you're all motivated and enthusiastic to everyone who shows up, then we can have a big water fight at the end of the day.” As if switches have just been flipped from bored to pumped up on the department's moods, everyone has a hop in their step and readily awaits their first customer. Ben shoots Leslie a thumbs up, their chaste moment broken when Andy shouts that he calls dibs on the hose the entire day.

The incentive is effective throughout the day. Leslie goes on a food run in the afternoon for lunch and picks up a few bags of water balloons along the way. April then becomes her go-to person to fill them up for everyone discreetly in return for getting her own personal supply. Wiping the sweat from her face, Leslie glances over to see Ben's hair dripping with perspiration, his arms glistening as well. Catching her gaze, he lifts his shirt up, giving her a view of his lean torso, to wipe away some of the sweat before dropping it back down. He looks at her pointedly. “No funny business here.”

His feigned innocence drives her insane. “You're my first target, Wyatt,” she warns him. With dusk just an hour a way, all Leslie has to do is wait.

Ben counts the money and concludes that thanks to her radio interview, their profits nearly tripled from the previous wash. The countdown commences in Leslie's head until the money is safely put away in a box and the box secured in Ben's car before she pulls her water balloon out and tosses it at him. It pops against his chest, his surprised yell barely audible over the sounds of everyone screaming and shouting for balloons of their own. Andy keeps up on his promise and utilizes the hose to spray everyone. Ron stuffs a handful of balloons in the crook of his arm while giggling, running for cover by a tree and yelling “Fire!” every time he throws one.

“That was a dirty play,” Ben shouts as he reaches into the bucket of balloons besides Leslie. Donna flings a balloon at them, it breaking over Leslie's head and splashing them both. While cackling, Donna is hit by Jerry, but he's foiled when two pop in his hands, soaking himself.

Leslie grabs Ben and ducks behind her car, unable to speak through her own giggles. They lob balloons together, gasping when April pours water down their shirts from behind. Though they try to exact revenge, Andy runs to cover her, holding the hose nozzle like a gun. “If you want to get her, you'll have to get through me first!” He laughs maniacally but cries out when Tom nails him with a balloon to the back of his head.

Chris is arguably having the most fun, laughing when he gets hit and complimenting everyone's technique. He walks to the bucket and finds it empty. “I suppose we'll call that the end to a spectacular day!” Everyone else moves to join him, not noticing they're missing a person until April laughs from the top of her car.

“VICTORY!” Her entire personal stash of balloons rain down on the Parks and Recreation Department, and Leslie doesn't regret giving them to April when she sees the mirth in everyone's expressions, even as they clean up and head home. When she sees the last of their headlights driving away, Leslie gets in her car and drives to her house with a smile on her face.

Having a boyfriend who has to hide his relationship from his roommates is interesting to say the least. Ben's excuses range from spending time with a relative who's come to town to going out drinking until he leaves Leslie's early in the morning and sneaks in through the window. He always manages to make his way over to her place undetected though, so Leslie parks her car, leaves the door unlocked for him, and kicks off her damp shoes before entering her home.

As she starts a hot bath, she hears the door open and close. “Leslie?” Ben asks.

“In here!” Leslie adds some bubble bath before removing her clothing. He walks into the bathroom, gazing admirably at her.

“Just when I thought I was done with water for the day...” Stripped naked, Ben puts his and her damp clothing on the sink and kisses her back when she leans over to turn off the faucet. “That was a dirty move you pulled earlier with that water balloon. It pains me that after all we've been through, _I_ was your first casualty.”

Humming in appreciation, she pulls him in for a slow, deep kiss. “And what about you lifting your shirt? That didn't seem like fair play, but since I'm in a _forgiving_ mood, I'll let you share the bath with me.” To emphasize her generosity, she runs a hand through the bubbles and blows some at him.

Bemused, he steps in and situates himself so that she can sit in between his legs. Then the two lay back, sighing blissfully in the hot water. Leslie can't think of a better feeling than this – just relaxing with Ben after a hard day's work, knowing she's done well for Pawnee. Past boyfriends insisted she take the day off, words that never made any sense to her. Why take the day off if there's work to be done? Feeling accomplished is always more satisfying than feeling relaxed and well rested. And when she can do both, she might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

Ben kisses her neck and shoulders before taking a wash cloth from where it's hanging over the tub and dips it in the water to wash the back of her neck and all over her body. When he reaches around and cusps her breasts, Leslie turns her head to look at him, eyebrow quirked. “I'm just making sure they're clean,” he argues before getting back to work. Soon, he's forgotten all about scrubbing her, he's too busy kissing her and groaning as she grabs his erection and works it underwater, moving her hand up and down, her thumb rubbing the sensitive tip. “Shit, Leslie,” he whispers, cheeks flushed red. One of his hands grips her shoulder firmly; she turns her head to kiss each finger.

The hot bath is making tendrils of her hair stick to her forehead, and by his sounds and bucking of his hips, Ben isn't going to last much longer. “Let's get out of this bath,” she offers. They step out on shaky legs, Ben making it so far as the bathroom sink before leaning Leslie back against it. Catching the clue, she hoists herself up, and Ben's right between her legs. “Bottom drawer,” she tells him, and Ben finds a box of condoms there. Putting one on, he waits until Leslie gives him the okay (which she finds incredibly sexy and adorable) before pushing into her.

He moves slowly, trying to cool down and make himself last more than a few seconds. Leslie personally hates when guys take too long; she thinks it's some sort of weird macho thing. It's inconsiderate and usually leaves her lying there, waiting for them to finish so she can get on with her life. Ben, meanwhile, makes every second worth her while. His tongue flicks her nipples, the warmth of his mouth contrasting with the cool room and driving her insane. As he picks up speed, his teeth graze her earlobe while his hands grasp her thighs.

“Fuck,” Leslie grits between her teeth, the feeling of Ben inside her and the fact that they're fucking in her bathroom impossibly sexy.

“Look at you,” Ben instructs her, and she looks over him at their reflection in her glass shower door. They look _hot_ , like they're the couple that leads a boring life during the day but a crazy, dirty sex life at night. _Maybe we are_ , Leslie thinks while wrapping her legs around his waist. Her hand slides between their two bodies, her fingers rubbing her clit deftly while Ben thrusts wildly, so close himself. He groans as he comes, his head falling to the crook of her neck. Within moments, she follows him, waves of pleasure rolling over her until she's grasping onto his shoulders for support. 

Utterly spent, they separate and clean themselves up. Leslie drains the bath before heading straight to bed. Covered by only a top sheet, she gladly lets Ben in, sleepiness clouding her mind. “Good day,” she mumbles while turning on her side toward him.

“Mm, yeah,” he replies, sounding just as exhausted. “What was your favorite part?”

Leslie smiles. “The sun.”

“Why?”

“Sun's out, guns out.” Cuddling against one of the “guns” in question, Leslie giggles herself to sleep.

 


End file.
